Toy phonograph

ABSTRACT

A toy phonograph wherein a housing lid is pivotally mounted on a housing so as to be operable, and wherein a fixed turntable for supporting a disc and a driving mechanism therefor are mounted on said housing, while a loudspeaker and a pickup mechanism are arranged on said housing lid, characterized in that said loudspeaker comprises a conic diaphragm, a low-cylinder-shaped frame disposed at the back of said conic diaphragm the outer peripheral portion of said diaphragm being fixed to said frame, a slot being formed in the bottom of said frame so as to extend from the central portion of said bottom in the radial direction, and a cantilever type diaphragm laid in said slot, one end of the second-mentioned diaphragm nearer to said central portion of said bottom and the central portion of said conic diaphragm being kept in contact with or being secured to each other, while the connected portion between the other end of said cantilever type diaphragm and said frame is especially made thin, said loudspeaker being pivotally mounted on said housing lid so as to be rockable perpendicularly to said bottom of said frame, and in that an expanding spring is disposed between said conic diaphragm and said housing lid.

United States Patent Watanabe A 1 Aug. 8, 1972 [54] TOY PHONOGRAPH [72] Inventor: Katsumi Watanabe, No. 371 Ozenji, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa-ken, Japan [22] Filed: Dec. 16, 1970 [21 Appl. No.: 98,679

Primary ExaminerWilliam D. Martin, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Steven L. Stephan [5 7] ABSTRACT A toy phonograph wherein a housing lid is pivotally mounted on a housing so as to be operable, and wherein a fixed turntable for supporting a disc and a driving mechanism therefor are mounted on said housing, while a loudspeaker and a pickup mechanism are arranged on said housing lid, characterized in that said loudspeaker comprises a conic diaphragm, a lowcylinder-shaped frame disposed at the back of said conic diaphragm the outer peripheral portion of said diaphragm being fixed to said frame, a slot being formed in the bottom of said frame so as to extend from the central portion of said bottom in the radial direction, and a cantilever type diaphragm laid'in said slot, one end of the second-mentioned diaphragm nearer to said central portion of said bottom and the central portion of said conic diaphragm being kept in contact with or being secured to each other, while the connected portion between the other end of said cantilever type diaphragm and said frame is especially made thin, said loudspeaker being pivotally mounted on said housing lid so as to be rockable perpendicularly to said bottom of said frame, and in that an expanding spring is disposed between said conic diaphragm and said housing lid.

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Mfsl/M/ WAMMBE PATENTEDmc 8 I972 SHEET 2 OF 2 LILII INVENTOR. BY AT 1 WWW/8E (Zia 0 TOY PHONOGRAPH SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a toy phonograph particularly for use in voice-producing toys. The principal object thereof is to enhance the sound effect, and therewith, to intend reduction in the manufacturing cost through simplification of construction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view of a toy phonograph enbodying this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the toy phonograph;

FIG. 3 is a right-side view of the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a housing taken along line A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section along line A-B in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view only for a loundspeaker according to this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In prior-art simple phonographs of this type, a housing lid is pivotally mounted on a housing so as to be operable. A turntable for supporting a disc and a driving mechanism therefor are mounted on the housing, while a loudspeaker and a pickup mechanism is provided on the housing lid. Upon closing the housing lid to put it on the housing, a stylus of the pickup mechanism is brought into contact with the disc. In order to hold a suitable contact pressure between the stylus and the disc, an elastic member such as aspring is usually employed. Essentially there have heretofore been two methods for mounting the spring, as follows:

A. One method wherein the turntable is fixed on the housing so that it may be operated only in the rotational direction and may be prevented from moving in the axial direction. The spring isattached to a pickup Section which includes the loudspeaker or the stylus to be received in the housing lid section. Thus, the contact pressure is attained. I

B. The other method wherein the stylus and the loudspeaker in the form of an integral unit are fixed on the housing lid. The spring is provided in the turntable section so that the turntable may be operated in the rotational and axial directions. Thus, the contact pressure is obtained.

As regards the method A, toys of this type should originally be made small in size and there is no room to dispose a baffle plate for the loudspeaker, with the result that the method A may, disadvantageously, not perfectly prevent the interference between the front and rear radiations of the loudspeaker. A further disadvantage is impossibility of reproducing the range of low tones. The method B is really superior to the method A in that the loudspeaker is fixed onto the housing lid to utilize the latter instead of the baffle plate thus to expect the sound effect. However, toys, such as a doll, containing therein a simple phonograph of this type are subject to such rough handling as inversion and inclination. According to the method B, the turntable section is rockable in the direction of the rotational axis. The spring works when the turntable is moved in the direction to reduce the contact pressure, whereas it does not act in case the toy is under the inverted state. As a consequence, the weights of the record, turntable, etc. are inevitably added to the contact pressure. There are accordingly brought about damage of a disc groove, breakageof the loudspeaker, irregularity in the rotational speed of the turntable or cessation of rotation of the same, and like various disadvantages in practical use.

This invention fully eliminates these disadvantages in the prior art, and has the subject matter in a toy phonograph wherein a housing lid is pivotally mounted on a housing so as to be operable, and wherein a fixed turntable for supporting a disc and a driving mechanism therefor are mounted on said housing, while a loudspeaker and a pickup mechanism are arranged on said housing lid, characterized in that said loudspeaker comprises a conic diaphragm, a low cylindrical frame disposed at the back of said conic diaphragm, the, outer peripheral portion of said diaphragm being fixed to said frame, a slot being formed in the bottom of said frame so as to extend from the central portion of said bottom in the radial direction, and a cantilever type diaphragm laid in said slot, one end of the second-mentioned diaphragm nearer to said central portion of said bottom and the central portion of said conic diaphragm being kept in contact with or being secured to each other, while the connected portion between the other end of said cantilever type diaphragm and said frame is especially made .thin, said loudspeaker being pivotally mounted on said housing lid so as to be rockable perpendicularly to said bottom of said frame, and in that an expanding spring is disposed between said conic diaphragm and said housing lid.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, the construction according .to this invention will be described in connection with an embodiment. In a housing 1, a motor 2 is mounted so that a fixedturntable 4, a return cam 4 and arecord 5 may be rotated through a belt 3. Ahousing lid 6 is operably hinged at one edge of the housing 1. The housing lid is constructed in such a manner that upon closure thereof, a stylus 9 of apickup arm 8 may be brought into contact with the record 5. The housing lid-6 is provided with a panel ,10, whereby the contained elements are securely held. The panel 10 is formed with an opening 11,

through which the stylus 9 equipped at one end of the pickup arm 8 is caused to appear, thus allowing it to be brought into contact with a groove 12 of the disc 5. The other end of the pickuparm 8 is pivotally mounted on the panel 10 so as to be rockable and by means of a pickup .pin 13. Therewith, the middle part of the arm 8 is controlled to a starting position by a control pin 14. In order to automatically return to the starting position, the pickup pin 13 is provided with a torsion coil spring 15. Furthermore, in order to continuously operate the toy phonograph of this-invention, the end of an autoset (automatic setting) arm 16 remote from the stylus 9 is pivotally mounted on the pick panel 10 by means of an autoset pin 17. In addition, the middle part of the arm 16 is controlled to a starting position by a control pin 14, while a torsion coil spring 18 is disposed to permit automatic return ofthe arm 16 to the starting position. Thus, the autoset arm 16 is put to effect quite the same functions as those of the pickup arm 8.

Moreover, the autoset rod 16 is arranged at such a related position that as the aforesaid one end of the pickup arm 8 is operated within the rockable range to move to the center of the record 5, the end of the autoset arm 16 nearer to the stylus 9 is simultaneously pushed and moved. The panel 10 has a loudspeaker 19 mounted through a mounting plate 20. One end of this plate is secured onto the panel 10 by a stanchion 21 and a coiled spring 22. The loudspeaker 19 is constructed as follows. A low-cylinder-shaped frame 24 is disposed at the back of a conic diaphragm 23 which is formed at its outer periphery with corrugation. The conic diaphragm 23 is fixed to the frame 24 at the outer peripheral part thereof. In the bottom of the frame 24, a slot 26 is formed which extends from the center a thereof in the radial direction and in which a cantilever type diaphragm 25 is laid. The end 25' of the diaphragm 25 nearer to said central portion of the bottom and the central part 23 of the cone diaphragm 23 are kept in contact with or secured to each other, while the connected portion 25" between the other end of the cantilevered diaphragm 25 and the frame 24 is specifically made thin.

The panel 10 with the above parts disposed on only one side is fixed to the housing lid 6 with screws 27. In this case, at that position on the inner surface of the housing lid which corresponds to the central portion of the conic diaphragm 23, there is fixedly mounted a spring guide rod 28 around which a coiled spring 29 is attached. One end of this spring is pressedly inserted to the interior of the cone diaphragm.

in operation, upon closing the housing lid 6 on the housing 1 to rotate the motor 2, the disc 5 will be revolved. The stylus 9 moves along the groove 12 of the record 5, as it is applied with a suitable contact pressure by the coiled spring 29 disposed between the housing lid 6 and the conic diaphragm 23. When, after the pickup arm 8 is rocked to the end of the music of the record, the disc still continues revolution, the end of the autoset arm 16 nearer to the stylus 9 as having been pushed and moved by the pickup arm 8 will run on the return cam 4' disposed in the vicinity of the turntable 4. As soon as the distance between the loudspeaker 19 and the disc is thus increased, the pickup arm 8 will return to the starting-position determining pin 14 about the pickup pin 13 under the force of the torsion coil spring 15. Immediately thereafter, the autoset arm 16 passes through the return cam 4, and the distance between the loudspeaker l9 and the record 5 becomes the original one again. Then, since the force exerted simultaneously on the autoset arm 16 by the pickup arm 8, Le, the force applied by movement of the pickup arm 8 is removed, the autoset arm 16 is instantly returned to the starting position at the control pin 14 in the same manner as the pickup arm 8. Thus, the sweet melody is again played.

The device of the present invention as constructed in the above description, fully eliminates the disadvantages of the methods A and B as mentioned in the introductory part of this specification and it is extremely large in the sound effect. Nevertheless, the construction of the loudspeaker is very simple, so that the manufacturing cost is reduced to the utmost. In addition, the external form of the entire device is cylindrical and the device is operable at the middle part, so that it is very convenient to handle.

I claim:

1. A toy phonograph wherein a housing lid is pivotally mounted on a housing so as to be operable, and wherein a fixed turntable for supporting a record and a driving mechanism therefor are mounted on said housing, while a loudspeaker and a pickup mechanism are arranged on said housing lid, characterized in that said loudspeaker comprises a conic diaphragm, a lowcylindrical frame disposed at the back of said conic diaphragm and having a bottom and an end opposite said bottom, the outer peripheral portion of said diaphragm being fixed to said frame and closing said end thereof, a slot being formed in the bottom of said frame so as to extend from the central portion of said bottom in the radial direction, and a cantilever type diaphragm laid in and substantially filling said slot while being freely movable therein, one end of the cantilever type diaphragm which is nearer to said central portion of said bottom and the central portion of said conic diaphragm being secured to each other, while the other end of said cantilever type diaphragm includes a thin web which connects it to said frame to enhance said free movement of said cantilever type diaphragm, said loudspeaker being pivotally mounted on said housing lid so as to be rockable perpendicularly to said bottom of said frame, and in that an expanding spring is disposed between and biases said conic diaphragm and said housing lid apart from each other. 

1. A toy phonograph wherein a housing lid is pivotally mounted on a housing so as to be operable, and wherein a fixed turntable for supporting a record and a driving mechanism therefor are mounted on said housing, while a loudspeaker and a pickup mechanism are arranged on said housing lid, characterized in that said loUdspeaker comprises a conic diaphragm, a low-cylindrical frame disposed at the back of said conic diaphragm and having a bottom and an end opposite said bottom, the outer peripheral portion of said diaphragm being fixed to said frame and closing said end thereof, a slot being formed in the bottom of said frame so as to extend from the central portion of said bottom in the radial direction, and a cantilever type diaphragm laid in and substantially filling said slot while being freely movable therein, one end of the cantilever type diaphragm which is nearer to said central portion of said bottom and the central portion of said conic diaphragm being secured to each other, while the other end of said cantilever type diaphragm includes a thin web which connects it to said frame to enhance said free movement of said cantilever type diaphragm, said loudspeaker being pivotally mounted on said housing lid so as to be rockable perpendicularly to said bottom of said frame, and in that an expanding spring is disposed between and biases said conic diaphragm and said housing lid apart from each other. 